Pear and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with Pear Ghosts
A creamy pear ice cream with a fragrant fruit flavor and thin, crisp ribbons of dark chocolate. Small pear ghosts with chocolate eyes give it a playful Halloween finish.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Program
- ICE CREAM
- Level
- Medium
- Price
- €€
Prepare the base
Set aside 100 g of the unpeeled pears for the ghosts. Cover any cut surface tightly and refrigerate until serving. Peel and core the remaining 300 g of pears, then chop the flesh.
Place the chopped pears, sugar and water in a small heavy-based saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Cover and simmer gently for 8-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft enough to mash with a spoon.
Uncover and mash the pears thoroughly. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thick and weighs 220 g for a Standard pint or 330 g for a Deluxe pint, usually another 8-15 minutes. Check the weight in a tared shallow heatproof bowl and return the mixture to the saucepan for further reduction if it is above the target weight.
Leave the reduced pear mixture in the same bowl to cool to room temperature.
Blend the cooled pear mixture with the whole milk and salt until completely smooth. Add the heavy cream and blend briefly until evenly combined.
Freeze and spin
Pour the mixture into a Ninja CREAMi pint, without exceeding the MAX FILL line.
Close with the storage lid and freeze flat for 24 hours.
Once fully frozen, run the ICE CREAM program.
If the texture is powdery or crumbly after the first cycle, run RE-SPIN.
Still not right after re-spinning? See how to fix the texture.
Serve
Cut 2 g of the dark chocolate into four small pieces for a Standard pint or six for a Deluxe pint, and reserve them for the eyes. Chop the remaining 28 g of chocolate and place it in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at half power in 10-second bursts, stirring between bursts, until just melted. Let it stand while you prepare the pears so it is barely warm but still fluid.
Peel and core the reserved pears, then cut the flesh into two long, tapered wedges for a Standard pint or three for a Deluxe pint. Trim the wide end of each wedge flat so it can stand as a ghost. Divide any edible trimmings between small serving bowls.
Press two reserved chocolate pieces into the narrow end of each pear wedge to make eyes. Divide half the ice cream between the serving bowls and drizzle over half the melted chocolate in thin ribbons. Add the remaining ice cream and drizzle over the remaining chocolate; the thin ribbons will set against the cold ice cream.
Stand the pear ghosts in the ice cream with their chocolate eyes facing forward. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Storing leftovers
Flatten any remaining ice cream to level the surface before returning the pint to the freezer. This will make the next spin easier and reduce unnecessary strain on the machine. Learn more about after-serving habits.
Tips
- Use fragrant, ripe Conference or Williams pears that yield slightly near the stem but still hold their shape. Hard, underripe pears give a weaker flavor and a grainier texture.
- The pear quantities are weighed before peeling and coring. Keep the decoration portion unpeeled until serving to limit browning.
- Drizzle the chocolate in thin ribbons. Thick pools become hard slabs against the frozen ice cream.
Nutrition | 100 g | Pint |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 161 | 916 |
| Protein (g) | 1.9 | 10.8 |
| Carbs (g) | 17.8 | 101.3 |
| Fat (g) | 8.6 | 48.9 |